Salina will celebrate Veterans Day in several ways on Friday.

The Salina Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion organizations will host a ceremony at the Saline County War Memorial in Sunset Park. It will include remarks by Legion Commander Stan Britt, a 21 gun salute, and the playing of taps.

Following the event, which begins at 11:00, the organizations will host a combined luncheon at the VFW Post at 1108 W. Crawford.

Salina Area Technical College is hosting a flag-raising and brunch to honor the nation’s military veterans Friday.

Their event will start with a flag-raising at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the flag pole in front of Building A on the Salina Tech campus, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” by singers from Southeast of Saline High School.

Immediately after the ceremony, military veterans, active service members and military dependents are invited to a brunch inside Building A.

Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’” As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.

In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress — at the urging of the veterans service organizations — amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.